A recent assessment by the Federal Government’s Commissioner for Eastern Germany, Elisabeth Kaiser (SPD), suggests that Eastern Germany continues to offer more favorable conditions for raising children compared to its Western counterpart.
Speaking to the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland, Kaiser highlighted a notable difference in traditional family structures. She cited her own upbringing – both parents actively employed – as a common experience in Eastern Germany, contrasting it with observations from her Western German peers where mothers were more frequently staying at home and fathers shouldering the primary workforce role. This disparity, she noted, is reflected in the current state of childcare infrastructure, with Eastern Germany boasting significantly more developed systems.
Kaiser stressed the importance of safeguarding these existing conditions, ensuring that parents wishing to work full-time are able to do so. She also acknowledged the historically traditional division of labor prevalent in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), where many women successfully balanced full-time employment with household responsibilities.
The commissioner’s recent announcement of the birth of her second child, alongside the expectation of a child from Federal Minister for Housing, Urban Development and Building, Verena Hubertz (SPD), was interpreted as a positive signal. Kaiser believes it underscores the message that motherhood should not impede career progression.
